A Percabeth Short Story

Chapter One: A Rude Awakening

     Percy's Pov

I woke up with a jump, looking around my empty cabin and sighing as I remembered I was safe at camp. I did that warding off evil gesture Grover had taught me, so long ago I was surprised I remembered.
    
     I stretched in bed, swinging my legs over the side of the bed and running a hand through my hair, wondering what my friends were doing right now. I reached under my pillow and curled my fingers around a circular object, then pulled it out. It was a bracelet, blue braided yarn fit for my wrist, pretty much perfectly. I smiled as I remembered sitting beside Annabeth in arts and crafts when she had made it for me. I felt my face grow warm as I thought about my best friend Annabeth, whom I've known two years now. It's felt like so much longer, though.
    
     I snapped out of my thoughts, not knowing where they'd come from.

     Sighing, I stood up and walked over to the dresser in my cabin. I dug around the messy heap of clothes and pulled out one of my Camp Half-Blood shirts, I pulled it over my head and covered it with a navy blue oversized hoodie. I yanked on some worn out jeans, then tied the laces on my converse shoes. They were pretty sick, my mom got them for me on Christmas last year. They were sea green, and instead of the converse logo there was a glowing blue trident on the side. I had drawn little doodles all over the toes and the sides, and I had all my friends sign them as well. They were my favorites.

     After I jumped up and examined my messy hair (I decided to keep it messy, no use in brushing it since it would get messed up later anyway) I ran over to my bedside table and grabbed a ballpoint pen. It wasn't any ballpoint pen though, when I uncapped it, the pen grew into a shimmering Celestial Bronze sword, called Riptide. I stuffed it into the pocket of my jeans then ran out of my cabin, searching for Grover or Annabeth. Instead, I saw Clarisse.

     Clarisse stomped up the hill towards me, which was my cue to go in a different direction. I spun around, beginning to walk in the direction of the lakes when a meaty hand grabbed the hood on my hoodie and yanked me backwards, hard. I landed with a thud on the ground and I started to get back up, but Clarisse pushed her knee against my chest.

    "You think I'm gonna let you get away with what you did last night at capture the flag, you little punk?" Clarisse growled, and I shrugged.

    "I did what I had to do, so my team could win."

     Last night, I was on the Athena Team's side, and I gave Annabeth an idea to lead our team to victory. Surprisingly, she had agreed. Long story short, I had lured Clarisse deep into the woods, she knew I was heading for her flag with no defense, but realistically Annabeth had her invisible Yankees cap on and snuck up behind her, and right when I grabbed the flag, Annabeth pounced. She held down Clarisse long enough for me to get a head start, and our team won. Apparently, Clarisse was still pretty pissed.

     I struggled under her weight, trying to slip my hand into my pocket while she beat her fist against her palm and grinned. "I'm gonna enjoy squashing you," she said. As she raised her fist, about to pound me into a Percy-Pancake, a girl's bossy, annoying voice that I'd grown to love said behind us, "Clarisse, back off of Percy. If you kill him now, you can't beat him later." Annabeth said, trying to persuade Clarisse.

     Clarisse rolled her eyes and stood up, and I heaved a dramatic breath as I stood up, backing away towards Annabeth.

     Clarisse gave me a death glare, which I knew meant I'll get you later.

     As Clarisse walked away, I turned to look at Annabeth, smiling sheepishly. "Well, that was a great way to start the day."

     Annabeth just glared at me, her startling gray eyes piercing through my soul. "Percy, you really need to stop getting on everyone's bad side." She said, sighing as she reached up and started trying to fix my hair. I slapped her hand away, feeling my face grow warm, which was weird, because Annabeth was my friend, nothing else. But when I looked at her, she looked different than last summer.

     Annabeth's hair was longer, and pulled up into a high ponytail, but it looked healthier, and there were layers in it. She'd had braces our first two summers together, but now they were off and her smile looked so big and bright now. Her eyes shone like moonlight, contrasting the sunlight beautifully. She's gotten a bit taller, but was still a good two or three inches shorter than me. She looked so..grown up. And pretty, and more mature and serious. It made me feel ridiculous with my messy hair, sloppy hoodie and jeans, and braces that were only halfway done straightening my teeth. 
    
     She noticed me staring, and smirked. "Got something to say, Seaweed Brain?" She teased, hitting me playfully in the arm.
    
     I rolled my eyes and playfully shoved her back, then put my hands in my hoodie pockets and walked down the hill towards the mess hall, becoming very aware when Annabeth walked close enough to me that our arms touched.

     "Race you?" I asked, we were now standing a good distance away from the mess hall. Annabeth looked at me, "you're on." She said, then we both took off running.